From Persons To Peoples: The Politics Of Recognition In International Society

10.1163/ej.9789004188006.i-259.49

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter, the author offers a reading of Axel Honneth's theory of recognition as a romantic political theory in which states do not seem to have any moral standing of their own. The author briefly discusses the opposite view which takes states to be moral persons and he argues for a conception of recognition that takes the specificity and irreducibility of international society seriously without falling into the trap of turning states into fetishes. Finally, the author concludes with a reflection on the place of states and peoples in the critical theory of recognition.